Process for the treatment of coal-tar.



G. L. DAVIES & W. E. W. RICHARDS.

PROCESS FOR THE TREATMENT OF COAL TAR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 18. I910.

Patented July 27, 1915.

VII/I1 srATEs PATENT OFFICE GEORGE LLEWELLYN DAVIES AND WALTER EDWINWINDSOR RICHARDS, OF LONDON.

ENGLAND.

PROCESS FOR THE TREATMENT OF GOAL TAR.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Application filed July 18, 1910. Serial No. 572,636.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE LLEWELLYN DAVIES,civil engineer, and WALTER EDWIN WINDSOR RICHARDS, mining engineer, bothsubjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at 72 and 73 HopExchange, London, England, and 43 Sinclair road, Kensington, London,England, respectively, have invented a certain new or Improved Processfor the Treatment of Coal' Tar, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a new or improved process for the treatment ofcoal tar; and the invention has for its object (inter alia) theseparation of the lighter from the heavier liquid hydrocarbons; theproducts resulting from this invention having many advantages and thesame may be used for any purposes to which they.may be applicable as forexample the heavier liquid hydrocarbons product may be employed as abinding medium for use in the manufacture of briquets from coal or othercarbonaceous material or for use in the manufacture of ore briquets andfor the production of blocks or slabs for paving purposes or saidproduct may be employed for many purposes where pitch and the like isnow used.

The present invention consists in treating the aforesaid coal tar (to beseparated) by acidulation and the addition of any suit.- able oil suchas hereinafter specified, and stirring the mass until the aforesaidseparation is complete and then removing the lighter oils from theheavier oils (or vice versa) in any suitable manner.

We may aerate the residue containing the heavier oils (after separationthereof as aforesaid from the lighter oils) or (and) wash the aforesaidresidue containing the heavier oils after separation thereof asaforesaid from the lighter oils.

For the sake of example we will now pro ceed to describe the treatmentof ordinary crude coal tar according to the present invention:--We takecoal tar (heated or not;

'6. g. heated to a temperature of say 180 F.

sulfur. When the acid has been well stirred into the tar (say for aboutone minute) we then add to the mixture a suitable quantity of anysuitable mineral oil such as ordinary mineral illuminating oil(kerosene) fuel oil or petroleum residues, naphtha, petrol, benzol, orthe like, or animal or vegetable or fatty oil (all of which we willhereinafter refer to as the added oil) andof this added oil we may forexample use about (or rather less than) double the quantity of theamount of acid used, say in the proportion of 3-per cent. (by weight) ofacid and 4 per cent. (by weight) of the added oil. The stirring iscontinued and after a few minutes the separation is complete. Thelighter oils (which constitute-by weight-about half of the weight of thetar used) can then be poured off, siphoned off, or preferably, takenofi'with an aspirator; or these lighter oils may beuremoved from the heavieroils (or-vice versa) in any other suitable manner. The lighter oils thusseparated andrecovered can be sold orotherwise disposed of in any mannerdesired. The residue con- Patented July 27, TQLJ I taining the heavieroils (thus separated g be used as a dye or stain. The resulting coloredwater or liquid is then run off or separated from the said residue(heavier oils) in any suitable manner and a fresh supply of water is ormay then be added in any suitable manner. A second boiling of the mass(for a similar time) may then take place. This second boiling results inthe production of a freshquantum of yellow color in the water whichlatter can then be separated as before'from the said residue and so on;this addition of fresh water to the said residue or; washing operationbeing repeated as often as desired but in practice we have usually foundtwo such washings to be sufficient for removing the greater part of theacid. The result of this process up to this point is to turn the saidresidue into a substance or material resembling a good liquid pitch orhard pitch as desired, this difference in efiect being obtained byslightly varying the percentage of sulfuric acid (or other acid, etc.,as aforesaid) used "and if desired varying the amount of 011 tinguishingfeature that its melting point is higher and with the hard pitch verymuch higher while in the case of the softer pitch it is more resilient.Before washing, the.

said residue (heavier oils) as; aforesaid or instead of washlng the saidresidue as aforesaid we may aerate the saidresidue 1n any suitablemanner as for example after thelighter oils have been separatedasaforesaid the residue (containing the heavier oils) is heateduntil,itbecomes liquid and we may then aerate the said residue in any suitiable manner and by any suitable means for instance we mayforce-atmospheric air or steam or any suitable gas or gases (such asoxygen) or-mixture of any of these under I press'ureinto the heatedresidue in order to eliminate. the sulfur therefrom or assist .in

eliminating-the same. As a result of the foregoing. process there isproduced a material from whichthe sulfur has been eliminated orsufliciently so as to render such material of great commercial value. 1

In any case where the elimination of-sulfur is not necessary then theaforesaid steps of wash-.

I ing or (and) aerating the said residue may be'omitted altogether.

v A suitable apparatus for carrying outthe herein described process isillustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure'l is a plan andFig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

' [or tilted when desired Referring to the drawings, A is a jacketed panprovided with laterally extending pins or trunnions E carried injournals or bearings in the standards J; 'said jacketed pan A-being s'oarranged that it can be tipped by freeing the pan from the catches or suringldevices I and releasing the clutch or joint Anysuitable heating.medium may I be caused to circulate or employed in the jacket space ofthe pan A; as for example steammay be employed and such steam may beadmitted through the inlet pipe. 0 and flexible pipe or hose C andfurthermore steam (or air) may be introduced into the interior of saidjacketed pan'A through .the flexible .60

terminates (as shown) ator near the bottom central part of the -toeither or pipeorihose'l? and the pipe F which latter pan A; steam ,beingsupboth of these steam inlets 1 end F F from any suitable source.

The catches or securing devices I I (which inbefore described means.

rial as, for example,

can be attached to and detached from the I In using the illustratedapparatus, the i jacketed pan A is filled with tar, for example, so asto just. cover the topmost of the stirrer arms B, which latter arecaused to slpwly revolve and the hereinbefore described acid is added tothe tar, for exam- I ple, said acid is slowly poured into the tar in thepan; heat being applied by the here Next kerosene or other lighterhydrocarbon is slowly poured into the acidulated tar and the separationtakes place, whereupon the stirrers are stopped and after a time thelighter oils can beseparated' off, for example, the same may be pouredoff by releasing the catches I I and disengaging the clutch H andtipping the pan A. After the pan is again fixed, steam may be againturned on into the jacket so as to make the heavy oils (now remaining inthe pan) liquid; air or steam being blown through this pitch-likematethrough the pipe F until the acid is mostly removed or neutralized;and the resulting pitch-like material is then discharged from the pouredinto a shallow tank.

WVhat we claim is:- 1. The herein described process of treating coal tarfor the purpose of separating the lighter from the heavier liquidhydrocarbons therein contained which consists in acidulating the coaltar to be separated and then adding to the mass any suitable oil (suchas ordinary mineral illuminating oil, kerosene, fuel oil or petroleumresidues, naphtha, petrol or the like, or animal oil eorvegetable oil orfatty oil) stirring the mass until the aforesaid separation is completethen removing the lighter oils from the heavier oils (or vice versa) inany suitable manner, and then aerating the residue containing theheavier oils' (after the separation thereof as aforesaid'from thelighter oils) substantially as and hereinbefore described.

2. The herein" described process of treating coal tar for the purpose ofseparating the lighter from the heavier liquid hydrocarbons thereincontained which consists in acidulating the coal tar to be separated andpan A, e. g.

for the purposes I I then adding to the mass anysuitable min- I eral orvegetable oil (such as ordinary min eral illuminating oil, kerosene,fuel oil or petroleum'residues, naphtha, petrol or the like, or animaloil or vegetable oil or fatty oil) stirring the mass until the aforesaidseparation is complete then removing the lighter oils from the heavieroils (or. vice versa) in any suitable manner, and then washing theresidue containing the heavier oils (after the separation thereof asaforesaid from the lighter oils) substantially-as and for the purposesdescribed.

3. The herein described process of treating coal tar for the purpose ofseparating the lighter from the heavier liquid hydrocarbons thereincontained which consists in acidulating the coal tar to be separated andthen adding to the mass any suitable mineral or vegetable oil (such asordinary mineral illuminating oil, kerosene, fuel oil or petroleumresidues, naphtha petrol, or the like, or animal oil or vegetahle oil orfatty oil) stirring the mass until the aforesaid separation is complete,then removing the lighter oils from the heavier oils (or vice versa) inany suitable manner, then aerating the residue containing the heavieroils (after the separation thereof as aforesaid from the lighter oils)and then washing the.

said residue substantially as and for the purposes described. a

4. The herein described process for treating coal tar for the purpose ofseparating the lighter oils from the heavier oils contained thereinwhich consists in acidulating the coal tar with about three per cent.sulfuric acid, adding to the mixture about four per cent. of lightmineral oil, stirring the mass until the separation is complete andallowing the whole to settle; drawing ad the lighter oils by decanting,aerating the residue containing the heavier oils; and then Washing thesaid residue substantially as and for the purpose hereinbeforedescribed.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE LLEWELLYN DAVIES. WALTER EDWIN WINDSOR RICHARDS.

l Vitnesses HENRY BmKBnoK, HERBERT D. JAMESON.

